“Service,” says Elaine Powell Cook ’78, “refills my cup every day, sometimes every hour.” Cook was honored last spring as the 2014 Girl Scouts of Historic Georgia Athens Woman of Distinction. The award honors a woman who reflects the Girl Scout values and serves as an excellent role model for girls. Cook is Vice President of Governmental Public Affairs, Chief Marketing Officer of Athens Regional Health System. Extraordinarily active in her community, she serves on the Athens Area Steering Committee of the Athens Rotary Club, the Leukemia Lymphoma Society’s Light the Night, the L.E.A.D. Athens Steering Committee, United Way Women’s Leadership Circle, the Georgia Alliance of Community Hospital Government Affairs Committee and the Georgia Hospital Association Executive Communications Committees. In recognition of her leadership, involvement in her community and mentoring, Cook was the 2008 recipient of the International Athena Award and the 2012 Athens Area Chamber of Commerce Champion of the Year. When she accepted the Athena Award, Cook noted, “Something I cherish is supporting other people. I’m just passing along what St. Catherine’s and those relationships gave to me.” Cook’s values and sense of service were instilled in her by her hero, best friend and mother, Dr. Christine McKenzie Williamson ’53, and her father, an Episcopal priest, and were reinforced by the St. Catherine’s Motto: “What we keep we lose; only what we give remains our own.” Cook travels frequently for work, so she is not able to connect as often as she would like, but says “My St. C roommates, suitemates and classmates are always with me…it all starts with sharing toothpaste. We shared rules, sickness, discoveries, enthusiasm and learning. We sometimes laugh about the power of our relationships with other women,” said Cook, who was a boarder. As a professional who takes great joy in serving others, she knows well that we must do our life’s work with the support of other nurturing women.